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Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Originally Posted by Beeslave

This years crop around here was darker and I've heard of higher moisture readings than normal(is there such a thing in beekeeping).

I sold 4 barrels of melter and 6 barrels of clover honey to a small packer. Called to see where my check was, they was telling me the honey was testing at 20% check barrels in house from the same production day and check out at 17%. Called back and they said the melter honey tested at 20% too. Wouldn't you know it took almost 90 days to get paid. Really high moisture or low bank account.

BEEKEEPER OR BANKER

If I could just get a package suppier to front me 800 packages for 90 days until the honey come in. And OH YA I only want to pay you 1/2 of what your packages are worth.

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Presidents choice or No Name packed honey on the shelves of Super Store are selling for about $6 per kg creamed white honey. Billy Bee is selling for $10 per kg creamed white honey. Thats $4 difference in retail price. They are both blended off shore honey, how can No Name sell for that price

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Honey at $1.5/lb, so that's $3.30/kg of honey. Another 2% for shrinkage, that's $3.37 per kg of honey. They have another 70 cents or so for the jar and label. I'm not current on these prices, but they pack in PET and not glass , so a little cheaper. Could be a little more or a little less. We are around $4.10/kg. President's Choice is their store brand and you can bet that the packer didn't make any money at it or very little. Very small margin here. I dunno for sure but I doubt much less than 35 cents and really doubt 60 cents per kg. So maybe $4.6/kg. Again could be a bit more, I don't think much less. Throw in some freight to the central warehouse and then to the individual stores. We are getting close to $5.00/kg. Superstore might have $1.00 profit in it per kg. They are not making big $$ selling honey. They probably have a slighly better margin on the BeeMaid honey, but some people don't want to shell out $10/kg for creamed honey. For those people they have the $6.00/kg option. So from the superstore point of view they get some honey money from the $ conscious consummers.

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

It's when honey is processed and goes from the barrel into the jar. Packers loose between 1 and 2 percent. So if 650 pounds of honey are in the drum you won't end up with 650 one pound jars, you'll end up with maybe 635 or 640. The heat from processing evaporates some of the moisture from the honey and poof it's gone, shrinkage.

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

How does losing 2% of the honey due to evaporation increase the value of the honey you sold by 2%? If I sell my honey for $3.30/kg, how does the packer losing 2% due to evaporation pay me $3.37/kg as in your example?

What is to prevent packers from adding 2% water to offset the 2% evaporative loss? I highly doubt a packer is going to sell 14% moisture honey when they can add a little water to turn it into 18% honey...and the water they add to get the 18% gets sold at honey prices.

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

That 2% loss doesn't add value to the honey, it adds cost of it. The packer doesn't pay you that money but he has to offset it or at least account for it, then pass it on the the consummer. The point I was trying to make to Ian was that even at $6/kg, there is still a little bit of profit there somewhere for somebody. There is not a lot of profit for the packer nor the store. Why they do it, I speculated on, but only they can answer that for sure.

Nothing prevents a packer from adding water. I don't think they do it, it's probably not that easy in the sense that to blend it into the honey they would have to circulate/agitate that for some time so that later the water doesn't float up and cause fermentation issues. How long would he have to agitate the honey/water, I don't know, but long enough to slow down the whole production. That cost with the associated risk of future fermentation is probably higher than packing low moisture honey.

Packers probably won't pack 14% honey, but they'll likely blend it with high moisture honey.
This is easier to do on a physical level. 19% honey is going to float on 14% honey, but will not float as much as water will on 14% honey. So it's easier to blend

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

The word for this loss is: ULLAGE.

It is used mostly in the wine making industry, but it covers a multitude of ways one always ends up with less in the bottles than he bought in the drum.

When you think about it, there must be a million ways we lose honey this way, and a forklift tine piercing a drum can do you a lot of damage. The two percent loss is only an estimated average. Don't buy too many leaking drums or that numeral might rise!

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Yeah so whats with the deal with these packers wanting to pay 30 days out? One called me for a few barrels. Then wanted 10 barrels. Then wanted me to drop off and wait 30 days for a check in the mail. I said THANKS but gee I can't make other folks wait 30 or 90 days for my payments either. Seems to me they want to sell my honey and then pay me for it.

Last edited by JohnK and Sheri; 03-01-2011 at 07:47 AM.
Reason: unnecessary quote

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Net 30 is pretty standard among the major packers except for Dutch Gold which, I think, is net 15 and then of course theres Sue but lets not get started on that. Suppose a seller can hold out for whatever terms they feel are fair.

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

In the 8 th Region of Chile (Area where I work). yields are a mess, less than 20% of normal. No records in the last 10 years of harvest worse. The other regions of Chile are not much better. We believe that there will be a great loss of bees from starvation and looting from February onwards, because beekeepers, mostly small, have no funds to feed the bees.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo compliments

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Sold the last of 2010 crop for $1.95 but was only a 7 ton lot. Just wondering If I should have held longer. Spring weather has been cold and looks to be the wettest April since the 40's. With the price of bees up 10-15% this year just wondering what honey is going to be this year. Heard of some package shippment coming out of the south short this year because of colder weather. Is there much of 2010 crop left.

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

Re: Bulk honey prices and market outlook

ST Sounds about right to me from the input I am getting. HH has his own marketing thing going up there that always nets him .20 a lb. Or so more. One of the perks , I guess, to being one of the few major suppliers in the area. I don't really think spring weather or rising bee prices directly affects the price, but it is certainly an early indicator of where domestic production might be headed. Definitely aren't any indications that there is any market forces out there to move the price down as long as one dosent try to market their whole crop in mid summer just as new crop honey is moving into the marketplace.

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney